Michael Wolff called Jeffrey Epstein his "good friend" and exchanged over 1,000 messages with the human trafficker.
Now a federal judge just declared his lawsuit against Melania Trump a "textbook bad-faith forum-shopping" scheme.
And Melania just filed to make him pay every dollar she spent – and the $1 billion defamation suit hasn't even started yet.
The Scheme the Judge Saw Right Through
Wolff had a problem.
Melania's attorney sent him a letter warning she would sue him for $1 billion unless he retracted statements falsely linking her to Jeffrey Epstein and issued an apology.
Wolff didn't retract.
He didn't apologize.
He filed his own lawsuit instead – sprinting to a New York federal court to get advance legal permission to keep smearing her.
Then he promoted it across his media platforms and raised more than $836,000 off it.
Manhattan Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wasn't fooled.
She tossed Wolff's lawsuit in May, describing it as "contorted almost beyond recognition."
Her ruling was direct: "Plaintiff asks for a declaration that, if the First Lady sues him, he deserves to win. That is not how the federal courts work."
Now Melania Is Coming for His Wallet
The first lady's legal team filed a 26-page motion Tuesday in the Southern District of New York.
They want Wolff and his attorney sanctioned under Rule 11 – the federal rule that bars lawyers from filing frivolous or unsupported claims.
The motion didn't mince words: "Plaintiff filed a patently meritless lawsuit and used it to harass Mrs. Trump in public."
Melania's team is asking for attorneys' fees, litigation costs, monetary penalties, and any additional sanctions the court deems appropriate.
The filing accused Wolff of engineering a phony jurisdictional dispute to steer the case toward friendlier ground – and then converting the litigation into a commercial fundraising operation.
"He instead raced to a New York court to try and get improper, advance approval of his statements, promoted the suit across his own media platforms, and used it to raise more than $836,000," the motion stated. "The Court saw through the maneuver."
Wolff's Epstein Problem Is Bigger Than This Lawsuit
The sanctions motion is just one layer of Wolff's legal and reputational disaster.
When the DOJ released 3.5 million pages of Epstein documents earlier this year, those records showed Wolff had been coordinating with Epstein on political strategy as far back as 2015.
Wolff told Epstein he could be the "bullet" to end Trump's campaign.
He advised Epstein to use Trump as an "immediate counter narrative" to a damaging book about Epstein, writing that becoming "anti-Trump gives you a certain political cover which you decidedly don't have now."
This is the man who falsely accused Melania Trump of being tied to Epstein's misconduct.
Wolff spent years writing books portraying himself as the insider who knew where all the bodies were buried.
The Epstein documents showed whose side he was actually on – and it wasn't the side of truth.
Federal judges sanctioning attorneys for frivolous filings is rare – it requires proving the lawsuit was filed in bad faith, not just that it lost.
Judge Vyskocil already called Wolff's strategy an "abuse of the Declaratory Judgment Act" and found he engaged in "inappropriate tactical gamesmanship."
That's not a judge who's on the fence.
If she grants the sanctions, Wolff won't just lose the money he raised off his lawsuit.
He'll have a federal ruling on record declaring his legal strategy a fraud – right as Melania's actual $1 billion defamation suit is still coming.
Sources:
- Victor Nava, "Melania Trump wants Michael Wolff to pay up after judge tosses journalist's 'contorted' lawsuit against the first lady," New York Post, July 22, 2026.
- Stephen Sorace, "Trump considers legal action against Michael Wolff and Epstein estate after latest document release," Fox News, February 1, 2026.
- "First lady Melania Trump files motion for sanctions against Michael Wolff over tossed lawsuit," Fox News, July 22, 2026.
- Jasmyn Jordan, "DOJ Epstein Files Reveal Michael Wolff's Political Collaboration with Jeffrey Epstein to Undermine Trump," Breitbart, January 30, 2026.
- "EXCLUSIVE: Melania Trump Seeks Attorneys' Fees and Court Sanctions After Defamation Victory Against Michael Wolff," RadarOnline, July 22, 2026.
- "Jeffrey Epstein asked Ken Starr to help Michael Wolff get info on 'indicting a sitting pres': DOJ document dump," New York Post, 2026.